About 25,000 children in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province are still living in tents six months after a deadly earthquake destroyed homes and schools, Save the Children said Thursday, warning that reconstruction has yet to begin in many of the hardest-hit areas.
The earthquake, which struck eastern Afghanistan on Aug. 31 last year, was one of the deadliest in the country’s history, killing more than 2,000 people and damaging or destroying over 8,000 homes, according to the aid group. Entire communities were flattened, forcing thousands of families into temporary camps.
Many of those families remain in tarpaulin tents through winter conditions, some of which were damaged by recent heavy snowfall in the mountainous region. To stay warm, families rely on wood- or coal-burning heaters inside the tents, increasing the risk of fire, the organization said.
Rebuilding efforts have barely begun, and in some villages the destruction was so extensive that reconstruction may never take place.
The quake also devastated the province’s education system. More than half of nearly 1,300 classrooms assessed were either completely or partially destroyed, Save the Children said. Even before the disaster, nearly 50,000 primary school-age children in Kunar were out of school.
Construction on damaged schools has not started, and about 17,000 children are now studying in temporary spaces across earthquake-affected areas.
Maria, 12, is among them. She now attends a temporary classroom set up by Save the Children in a camp in Kunar after her village was destroyed.
“We spent two nights on the road without any shelter, and then we came to this camp where we were provided with tents and other essential kits that helped us,” she said in a statement released by the organization.
Before the quake, she studied outdoors under trees and missed classes in bad weather because her school had no building. “Now, I see many changes in my life,” she said. “I can read books, I can write anything, and this school helped me to turn my dreams into reality.”
More than 6,000 families living in camps in Kunar continue to depend on humanitarian assistance after losing homes and livelihoods. Before the earthquake, families earned between $75 and $120 a month through agriculture, livestock and small-scale home-based work, according to Save the Children. Many now rely on cash aid.
“Six months on from the earthquake that destroyed lives and communities, children are still living and learning in tents,” said Bujar Hoxha, the organization’s country director in Afghanistan. “It is vital that schools and homes are rebuilt.”
He warned that communities in Kunar fear being forgotten as humanitarian funding declines. “Families need hope that their shattered lives can be rebuilt, and that requires sustained funding,” he said.
The funding gap comes amid rising needs across Afghanistan. In 2025 alone, more than 2.9 million Afghans returned from Iran and Pakistan, some settling in eastern provinces affected by the quake. The United Nations estimates that 4.2 million people across the country require shelter support this year.
Save the Children said it was among the first international groups to respond in Kunar, where most casualties occurred. The organization has established 30 temporary learning spaces serving nearly 1,500 children and has provided health care, water and sanitation services, shelter materials, cash assistance and psychosocial support. It says it has assisted nearly 89,000 people in the affected areas, including about 34,000 children.
Afghanistan remains highly vulnerable to natural disasters, and humanitarian agencies warn that without sustained international support, recovery in earthquake-hit regions could stall indefinitely.
